Keeping a diary

[RentonT]

Does anyone keep a diary? I am thinking this may be a smart idea.
Even if you just make an audio diary.
It might help to record how you feel each day and talk about the days experiences.
Just because trading is such a mental game, any self awareness and monitoring and reviewing your emotions etc must help?

Anyway 'm keen to get people's views on this?

[andyfuller]

Have you searched the forum for "blog" "diary" etc?

[Kai]

I used to keep a "mistake diary" and it had an extremely positive effect on my consistency and overall mindset. It was basically just a txt file (riddled with cuss words) where I described any bigger mistakes or blunders that I had made, because I noticed that I kept making the same few mistakes over and over again.

It helped to highlight those mistakes and it totally worked because the diary was pretty much obsolete just 2 months later. It worked wonders for my consistency, helped me get rid of some very bad habits and strengthened me mentally.

[RentonT]

great to hear Kai, I think I and many others think we are more stable than we actually are. I see advice such as "record videos of yourself and watch them back" and I give it the whole "I'll be ok, I don't need to do that" but I think I am overestimating the the amount of self control I actually have.

[Euler]

I keep extensive notes. Initially I did it to cut out errors, but now it's more observational. So I can relate to how markets have traded in the past and how I can improve performance when I meet those markets again.

[RentonT]

Thanks for replying Peter.
How do you go about it? And how do your store them for future reference please.
I think it's spot on because I am always finding subtle but very influential characteristics.

For instance today I thought this paticular short priced favourite around 2.75 would drift - BUT NO... it started to get shorter. I then looked at the market as a whole and thought hang on this is a 7 runner race and therefore bookmakers will be paying 2 places so the fav has a decent chance of firming up with the 2nd fav slightly drifting. So I closed out for a hefty Red and reversed my stance backing where it was (slightly risky but the betfair graph now was a spitting image of JollyGreen's test paper graph earlier this week). In the end it was a monumental swing from initial price and I even managed to get a small green. Just imagining the green I could have had if I had been right from the beginning.

However with some canny notes I may live to reap the rewards some day in the future.

[andyfuller]

It is just as important to spend time keeping notes as it is to spend time going back over them. There is no point making notes to never look back at them.

[andrejt]

Does anyone keep a diary? I am thinking this may be a smart idea.
Even if you just make an audio diary.
It might help to record how you feel each day and talk about the days experiences.
Just because trading is such a mental game, any self awareness and monitoring and reviewing your emotions etc must help?

Anyway 'm keen to get people's views on this?

Well, I keep a .txt diary for each day and also record the days session. Then I cut all the reds together, watch and analyze it, so I see the mistakes that I made - helps me a lot

[RentonT]

I feel I will need to record myself certainly I but don't know where to start regarding the tools I need to do so??

[andrejt]

I feel I will need to record myself certainly I but don't know where to start regarding the tools I need to do so??

Here you go my friend :

http://camtasia-studio.en.softonic.com/

Works great!

[burdo77]

A problem that I have with my dairy is that I tend to write up too many positive trades and when I get it wrong i tend to just move on. Something I have to improve on!

[Kai]

A problem that I have with my dairy is that I tend to write up too many positive trades and when I get it wrong i tend to just move on. Something I have to improve on!

Mistakes are the best teachers, one does not learn from success. Sounds corny but truer words were never spoken. If you only focus on the positives and ignore your mistakes I think you're making it much harder for yourself to learn and improve.

I think that reading quality materials online in the form of blogs/forums/etc is an edge in itself, because you can learn a lot from the mistakes of others as well. I for example did not blow any banks when I was starting out, because I was already aware of the potential pitfalls that newbie traders often fall into. I'm pretty sure that it would be a completely different story if I didn't do any "homework".

So yeah, mistakes are the best mentor you will ever have I think it's a great mentality to have in trading and in life in general, you either win or you learn, with that approach you can never really lose. That's exactly why I kept a mistake diary like I already mentioned.

Also, keeping notes and keeping a diary are two completely different things in my opinion. I keep hella notes and take tons of screenshots about anything that I think might be important. Same thing with random ideas that I get, I write them down and put them away so that I can try them out at my leisure. I think most traders have a similar approach, because there's not much point in keeping everything in your head.

[RentonT]

I feel I will need to record myself certainly I but don't know where to start regarding the tools I need to do so??

Here you go my friend :

http://camtasia-studio.en.softonic.com/

Works great!

Thanks for this

[LeTiss]

I've recently heard from a few people that Camtasia is riddled with some nasty virus

[andyfuller]

I think most traders have a similar approach, because there's not much point in keeping everything in your head.

It is also much more productive to make an actual note of something than a mental note. This applies to all things like To do lists, shopping lists etc.

By getting them written down it frees up mental space and thought leading to increased productivity.

I now use an app called Wunderlist and it has really helped. These days with smart phones, tablets etc. you always have access to it and it syncs across all devices.

Just yesterday I was running, which I like to do to help with thoughts as it gets you away from distractions, I always take a mobile with me in case of emergency. Halfway round my run as often happens my brain works away on problems and I got the solution to something and moments later had a good trading idea. I stopped, made a note on my phone via Wunderlist and then I didn't need to waste anymore mental effort on it, my mind was free to move on safe in the knowledge I had it recorded.

However, making all these notes means you must also allow time for reviewing them and this too applies to your trading notes.

I used to spend a couple of hours each morning reviewing the previous days video footage. Spending far longer on the losses than the profits. As has been said, you learn a lot more from your mistakes than your successes.